Empathy and Compassion.

Aug 7th, 2017 - Written by: Jane

How often do we hear “they just don’t understand.”

To be empathetic is to understand how someone is feeling, if we have experienced the same situation as the person who is needing us to listen, we do feel empathy. It is to understand the emotional side. It is the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes. The ability to tune into the emotions they are feeling.

We need to have empathy to be compassionate, they go hand in hand.

Compassion is taking action.

We need to think if there is anything we can do to help a situation, maybe in a practical sense.

It could be that someone just needs to hear a friendly voice. Just to know you are not alone is in it self empowering.

We need to be able to put others feeling above our own, as we walk alongside of them.

When supporting others we all need to sometimes take a little time out, time to recharge our batteries, we need to be compassionate with ourselves as well.

To be compassionate also means to be honest with ourselves, we can’t change people’s circumstances, and we can’t fix everyones heartbreak. Taking on other peoples trauma and pain can prevent ourselves from functioning properly.